FEUERBACH, PALL JOHANN ANSEL11, von (1775-1833). One of the most distinguished jurists of Germany. He was born at Jena, November 14, 1775. Brought up at Frankfo•t-on the-Main, where his father was an advocate, and educated in the gymnasium there, he went in 17 92 to Jena, where he studied law and philosophy. In 179S he appeared as a criminal jurist in a work entitled Philosophisch-juristisehe Unter*u chuny nber das rerbreehen des llochrerrats, and in the following year he began to deliver lectures in the University of Jena. In his lectures and pub lished writings he introduced into criminal juris prudenee a new method of treatment. which was systematized in his compendium of German penal law (Lehrbue/t des gemeinen in Deutschland geltenden peinliehen Priratrechis. Giessen. 1801; 14th edition by Mittermaier. 1874). This cele brated work placed Feuerbach at the head of a new school of jurists, who maintain that the de cision of the judge in every ease ought to he determined solely by an express deliverance of the penal law, never by his own discretion, and who on that Recount obtained the name of 'rigor ists! In 1801 Feuerbach was appointed full professor in Jena, but in 1802 accepted a call to Kiel. In 1804 he removed to the University of Land shut ; hut the next year, having received a commission to prepare a penal code for Ba varia, he was transferred to Munk+, and in 1808 he was appointed privy councilor. The new penal code which he planned for Bavaria (St rafgesetzbuch f lir dos Kiinigreich Bairn?, Mtinehen, 1813) received the royal approval, and was taken as a basis for the emendation of the criminal law of several other countries. During this period also he published his Casey in Criminal Law" (ileekViirdige Crinrinrrlrrchtsfdlle, 2 vols., Giessen, 1808-I]), which first led the way to a deeper psychological treatment of such cases. In 1812 he published a work on trial by jury, to which a second volume, on the judicial procedure of France. was added in 1825
as the result of a visit to Paris in 1821. In 1814 he became second president of the Court of Ap peals in Bamberg, and in 1817 first president of the Court of Appeals at Anspach. In 1832 he published a work on Kaspar Hauser, whose mys terious fate had strongly attracted his interest. Be had just edited a collection of his miscel laneous writings, when he died at Frankfort-on the-Main, May 25. 1833. An interesting life of Feuerhach was written by his son Ludwig (Leben nod Ansclm von Feucrbachs, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1 S52).
FEUERKRoTE, foir-kre'te (Ger., fire-toad). A common and curious frog (Bombinator igneus) of Europe, called 'fire-bellied' because of the vivid flame-color, marbled with black, of its under parts. The abdominal surface is smooth, but the upper surface, which is olive-green, is ex tremely warty and toad-like. Two varieties (or perhaps species) are recognized, the orange bellied of the lowland marshes and the yellow bellied of mountainous regions. It extends east ward into temperate Asia. but is not known in Great Britain. It is essentially aquatic. The female utters a high-pitched cry, and is exceed ingly shy; the tadpoles grow to an unusually large size, especially in respect to their tail-fin. These frogs are interesting as representatives of the peculiar family Discoglossithe (q.v.). and also for the remarkable way in which, when they think themselves in danger, they assume an erect, stiff ened attitude intended to display the bright 'warning colors' of their bellies. This is corre lated with the fact that their skins yield an ex• ccedingly poisonous so that no known bird or mammal eats them. Consult Gadow, A mphibia and Reptiles (London. 1901).